DISPATCHES

BUSH: WORST JOB PERFORMANCE IN 72 YEARS.

The numbers are in, and the president's own Bureau of Labor
Statistics confirmed that George W. Bush will be the first chief exec
since Herbert Hoover to end his term with fewer people working than
when he took office. With a mere 96,000 jobs added in September,
short of the 150,000 needed just to keep up with population growth
and far short of the 306,000 a month that Bush promised his tax cuts
would generate, he goes into the election having lost a net 940,000
jobs since the recession started in March 2001. Ironically, if
government jobs are excluded from the totals, the record is even
worse: Private-sector jobs are down 1.6 million since January 2001.
The typical family has lost about $1,500 in real income since Bush's
term began, Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) noted. In the past
year, average wages have declined to the lowest share of gross
domestic product since 1929. Increase in national debt during the
Bush administration will require the average middle-class taxpayer to
pay $21,068 more in taxes from 2001 to 2006, ADA figured. (See
adaction.com.)

US planned job cuts also soared to an eight-month high, Reuters
reported Oct. 5, as employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray &
Christmas Inc. said employers announced 107,863 layoffs in September,
41% more than in September 2003 and 45% more than in August of this
year, when 74,150 were laid off. "Historically, the period from
September 1 through December 31 is when we see the heaviest
downsizing and this year appears to be on track to repeat that
trend," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of the
firm.

The survey of households, an alternative job count, offered no
help for Bush partisans, as Max Sawicky noted that it actually showed
a net loss of 200,000 jobs for September. The Economic Policy
Institute (jobwatch.org) noted that the employment-to-population
ratio in September 2004 (62.3%) was still lagging behind the 2001
pre-recession level (64.3%), as reported by the Cleveland Federal
Reserve Board.

"The Bush administration called the tax cut package, which took
effect in July 2003, its 'Jobs and Growth Plan,'" EPI noted. "The
president's economics staff, the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)
... projected that the plan would result in the creation of 5.5
million jobs by the end of 2004 -- 306,000 new jobs each month
starting in July 2003. The CEA projected that the economy would
generate 228,000 jobs a month without a tax cut and 306,000 jobs a
month with the tax cut. Thus, it projected that 4,590,000 jobs would
be created over the last 15 months. In reality, since the tax cuts
took effect there are 2,882,000 fewer jobs than the administration
projected would be created by enactment of its tax cuts. The
September job growth of 96,000 fell 210,000 jobs short of the
administration's projection. As can be seen ... job creation failed
to meet the administration's projections in 13 of the past 15
months."

Sawicky acknowledged that the recession can't be blamed entirely
on Bush, since factors making for the slowdown existed prior to his
selection. "The real rap on Bush is what he did not do to reduce the
severity of the employment slump. He did not focus tax relief on
working people, and he did not ramp up domestic spending," Sawicky
wrote. "The Bushies point to some good job growth numbers over the
past year. This is like thanking someone for not hitting you over the
head with a hammer, after pounding for a week. The president's job is
to alleviate employment downturns, not take credit for inevitable
business cycle recoveries that would happen in any event."

HARDBALL ON CORPORATE TAX BREAKS. Congress stayed in D.C.
just long enough to pass a $137 billion corporate tax break bill,
finally approved by the Senate Oct. 11 after wearing down a
Democratic filibuster. The bill started as a repeal of $5 billion
export subsidies that were ruled illegal by the World Trade
Organization. But instead of simply repealing those subsidies,
Congress larded the bill with new corporate tax breaks, despite
record-high federal deficits and low corporate tax payments, for an
array of special interests including General Electric, makers of bows
and arrows and fishing tackle boxes, oil drillers, NASCAR track
owners, cruise ship operators, brewers and distillers, foreign
gamblers and importers of Chinese ceiling fans, plus expansion of the
definition of "manufacturing activity" eligible for tax breaks. (See
www.fairtaxes4all.org.) By the time the bill emerged from a
conference committee it kept a $10 billion buyout of tobacco growers
but lost a provision to regulate the tobacco industry that was part
of the Senate compromise that let the bill originally be passed. Also
stripped was an amendment by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, to overturn the
president's edict limiting overtime pay and $2 billion in tax credits
for companies that keep paying employees who are called to active
duty from military reserves and the National Guard. GOP leaders also
reportedly stripped $1 billion in tax credits to movie studios in
retaliation for the Motion Picture Association of America's recent
hiring of Democrat Dan Glickman as president (although movie studios
still got tax deductions worth $336 million). "All in all, the bill's
a real collector's item of hard-ass Republican legislative tactics,"
wrote Sam Rosenfeld for Prospect.org.

BIZ FILES MORE 'FRIVOLOUS' LAWSUITS THAN CIVILIANS. George
W. Bush says "frivolous lawsuits" and "trial lawyers" are a "threat
to our economy" because they weigh down American businesses. But
Public Citizen reports that, in fact, "American businesses file four
times as many lawsuits as do individuals represented by trial
attorneys, and they are penalized by judges much more often for
pursuing frivolous litigation." A survey in four different states
found that in 2001, businesses were 3.3 to 5.8 times more likely to
file lawsuits than were individuals. The findings come as "businesses
and politicians are campaigning to limit citizens' rights to sue over
everything from medical malpractice damages to defective products. By
way of comparison, the number of American consumers (281 million)
outnumbers the number of businesses in America (7 million) by 40
times." (See www.citizen.org.)

YOUTH STILL FEEL DRAFTY. Republican leaders Oct 5 rushed a
bill to the House floor without committee hearings or debate in an
attempt to end speculation that the government plans a new military
draft next year to back up its power play in the Middle East. The
House overwhelmingly voted down "The Universal National Service Act,"
which would require Americans aged 18 to 26 to perform two years of
national service in a military or civilian capacity, but Rep. Charlie
Rangel, D-N.Y., voted against his own bill because it had not been
given serious consideration. The vote was denounced as a cynical
stunt to provide political cover for Republicans but it shouldn't put
to rest fears that a draft will be enacted next year. If anything it
shows how a draft could be back in business practically overnight if
the White House and congressional leadership back it. And as long as
nearly 150,000 US troops are tied down in Iraq, a draft is
inevitable. "[T]he draft &endash;- which will include both
boys and girls this time around -- is a no-brainer in '05 and '06,"
retired Col. David Hackworth wrote in his syndicated column. And if
Republicans are still in control of Congress, the next draft won't
have the good elements of Rangel's plan. Young Americans already must
register for the draft but there has been no callup since 1973.

'PATRIOT 2' ADDED TO INTEL 'REFORM.' The House on Oct. 8
passed an intelligence "reform" bill that threatens more civil
liberties. According to the Center for Democracy and Technology
(cdt.org), HR 10 would expand intelligence wiretaps of individuals;
steps toward creation of a massive travel history database on all
citizens; allows no fewer than three intelligence and law enforcement
information to share systems, without privacy protections; removes
limits on CIA domestic spying; allows grand jury testimony to be
shared with foreign governments; and gives private employer access to
FBI criminal history databases without privacy safeguards. The
American Civil Liberties Union (aclu.org) noted that the bill also
would authorize indefinite, and potentially lifelong, detention of
terror suspects who might be sent to foreign countries for torture.
The bill also would weaken judicial review for immigrants and
explicitly forbids, in some cases, access to the
constitutionally-mandated "Great Writ" of habeas corpus. Drawn up by
House Republicans with little input from Democrats, the bill was
approved on 282-134 vote after an amendment offered by Rep. Robert
Menendez (D-N.J.) that would have removed many of the civil liberties
concerns was rejected on a vote of 213 to 203. The House bill differs
greatly from the bipartisan Senate version (S 2845), adopted 96-2 on
Oct. 6. The Senate bill would provide an independent Civil Liberties
Board with subpoena power and public reporting responsibilities; a
requirement of privacy guidelines before the administration can
launch an information sharing network; and an inspector general to
keep tabs on the new national intelligence director. The ACLU noted
that several commissioners and the Family Steering Committee of 9/11
victims had raised serious concerns about many of the superfluous law
enforcement and immigration provisions in the House bill.

TV EXECS ORDER ANTI-KERRY PROPAGANDA. Bush-backing Sinclair
Broadcast Group, whose 62 TV stations reach nearly a quarter of the
nation's homes, is ordering its stations to pre-empt regular
programming days before the Nov. 2 election to air a film, Stolen
Honor: Wounds That Never Heal, that attacks Sen. John Kerry's
activism against the war, the Los Angeles Times reported Oct. 9. The
company owns stations in swing states such as Florida, Iowa,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
West Virginia and Wisconsin. Some liberals suggested a boycott of
advertisers on Sinclair stations. Steve Soto of TheLeftCoaster.com
suggests that Democrats also protest Sinclair license renewals at the
Federal Communications Commission. Soto noted that anyone who has an
interest in the renewal of a TV license may file an informal
objection or a more formal petition. Upcoming deadlines to file
objections or petitions are Nov. 1 for Sinclair stations in
Asheville, Greensboro and Raleigh, N.C., and Charleston, S.C., Jan. 1
for stations in Pensacola, Tallahassee and Tampa, Fla., and March 1
for Birmingham, Ala. (For more on boycotts, license objections and
other responses to Sinclair, see this Dispatch at
www.populist.com.

D'S SEEK DELAY PROBE. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on
Oct. 8 called for a special counsel to look into Majority Leader Tom
DeLay's role in a Texas political action committee whose leaders were
charged with illegally funneling corporate money into Texas
legislative campaigns. Republicans immediately set the resolution
aside on a party-line vote. The House ethics committee issued four
admonishments of DeLay but deferred action on allegations regarding
the Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee. A
state grand jury in Austin recently indicted three men associated
with TRMPAC and with DeLay, but the majority leader has said he
played no role in the PAC's daily operations. However, the Houston
Chronicle on Oct. 7 reported that "a newly obtained memo indicates"
that DeLay had "personal involvement" in some of TRMPAC's key
decisions. A new grand jury in Austin is said to be continuing that
investigation.

RIGHTEOUS BUT UNCHURCHED. George W. Bush holds himself
forth as a devout man of faith. But Amy Sullivan writes in the Oct.
11 The New Republic that Bush does not go to church regularly.
"[E]very so often, he drops in on the little Episcopal church
across Lafayette Park from the White House. But the president who has
staked much of his domestic agenda on the argument that religious
communities hold the key to solving social problems doesn't belong to
a congregation." During Jimmy Carter's four years in the White House,
she noted, he found time not only to attend a Baptist church in the
Washington, D.C., area, but taught Sunday school there as well. The
Clintons were members of the same Foundry United Methodist Church
that Sullivan attended during the late 1990s when Bill Clinton was
president. "The only imposition was the extra ten seconds it took to
walk through a metal detector," she wrote. "For a presidential
delegator like Bush -- who has freed up enough time to spend
approximately one-third of his presidency on vacation -- finding a
few hours for church should be a snap." She finds it remarkable that
political reporters have scrutinized the churchgoing habits of John
Kerry, a devout Roman Catholic, but leave Bush's lack of churchgoing
unreported.

DIEBOLD LOSES COPYRIGHT COVERUP. College students who
called the bluff of Diebold Election Systems in a copyright case won
their lawsuit against the voting machine maker on Sept. 30. A
California judge ruled that the company had misused the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act last year when it claimed that posting
Diebold internal memos discussing problems with electronic voting
machines infringed the company's copyright. The judge ruled that the
company knowingly misrepresented that students infringed the
company's copyright. He ordered the company to pay damages and fees
to two students and a nonprofit internet service provider, Online
Policy Group. Last October, students at Swarthmore College in
Pennsylvania posted copies and links to some 13,000 internal Diebold
company memos that an anonymous source had leaked to Wired.com. The
memos suggested that Diebold was aware of security flaws in its
voting system when it sold the system to states. The Electronic
Frontier Foundation, which took on the case for the Online Policy
Group, argued that the memos were an important part of the public
debate on e-vote systems.

NO CASH FOR YOU! The Center for Strategic and International
Studies' Postconflict Reconstruction Project analyzed where Iraqi
reconstruction money goes and why so little of it seems to reach
Iraqi hands, Matthew Yglesias noted at Prospect.org. Congress has
appropriated $18.4 billion in reconstruction money, of which about
95% is unspent. Of the remaining $1 billion that has been spent, 30%
goes to security, 15% to "corruption/fraud/mismanagement," 12% to
"other" costs, 10% to the Coalition Provisional Authority and US
embassy overhead, and 6% to profit for subcontractors. "A mere 27% --
$270 million out of an $18.4 billion appropriation -- actually gets
into Iraqi hands," Yglesias writes. "And for some reason the whole
'hearts and minds' thing isn't going so well. It's hard to imagine
why."

REVISED CASUALTY COUNT. Sam Smith, editor of *Progressive
Review (prorev.com), was "deeply moved" when Dick Cheney lectured
John Edwards during the recent vice presidential debate that the
casualties of Iraqi allies should be recognized as part of the
"coalition." Smith wrote: "We agree that not only has Edwards been
deficient in this regard but so have we. We shall henceforth operate
on the Cheney principle and count not just the casualties of America
and its invading allies, but those of the Iraqi people, both military
and civilian, as well. We trust other media will follow suit and that
readers, out of respect towards the vice president, will urge them to
do so." The current count of coalition casualties, Smith wrote, using
the lower estimates in case of conflicting calculations: Deaths
(military and civilian): 19,068; wounded: 47,413.

AFL-CIO TRACKS OFFSHORING. The AFL-CIO labor federation has
created a new database to track companies that move jobs offshore or
that have to lay-off workers for trade-related reasons. The "Job
Tracker" is searchable by zip code, company or industry. The site
also provides a means for visitors to write the president and
congressional representatives to encourage them to stop the
offshoring of American jobs. See www.workingamerica.org.